Hiroko and I are working on a new book about the helpful little characters and local mascots that appear on street signs, packages, and instruction manuals throughout Japan. Tentatively titled "Hello, Please!," it's due out next year from Chronicle Books, the same fine folks who published Super #1 Robot.
The best thing about these little guys is their prosaic, unpretentious charm. They're designed to convey information or advertise local events rather than as products in and of themselves. And while they may lack the super-produced flair of their popular cousins like Hello Kitty or Domo-Kun, they have the advantage of sheer numbers: they're everywhere. In fact, they're so ubiquitous in daily Japanese life that they sail right under most peoples' radar. But now that our pals here know what we're looking for, we've started getting a steady stream of examples to use for the book. One of the weirdest so far: "Tohokken," a somewhat deformed representation of the Tohoku region of Japan. It's a dog... We think. That the motor vehicle administration felt compelled to create this rather than a simple letter to announce a change in phone numbers cuts to the core of why I love living in Japan.
Character-hunting expeditions to the wilds of downtown Tokyo and other cities are consuming all of our downtime between game translation projects, so apologies in advance if my updates get spotty for a while. Look for more reports and sneak previews as things develop...
Congratulations, guys!
Posted by: Roger | May 03, 2006 at 02:55 AM
Are these characters you're covering in this book the same as what they call "Yuru Chara", like the regional tourism characters displayed in Murakami's Little Boy exhibit? Or is that a broader or more specific category?
Posted by: Paul Segal | May 23, 2006 at 02:30 PM
The term "Yuru kyara" ("weak character") refers mainly to regional mascot character costumes, so it's pretty specific. Hello Please will focus more on the broader phenomenon of just how pervasive cute character imagery is in Japan, with lots of juicy photos (in fact, expect the text-to-photo ratio to be close to that of Super #1 Robot.)
Posted by: Matt | May 23, 2006 at 06:59 PM
The most surprising one for most Americans is the police mascot, I think. The fact that it is a cute little dude instead of some menacing or even fatherly figure really turns the concept of the powerful state on its head.
I hope you delve a bit into the "why" of these cute things in Japan. I always wondered if all the cutifimorphocation of objects, concepts, and animals could be traced back to religion etc...
Posted by: Josh J | July 24, 2006 at 05:34 PM
Indeed we will! Although the book largely consists of photographs, we do spend a decent amount of time discussing the cultural/historical precedents of these otherwise unassuming little guys as well. Look for more detail as we get closer to the publication date. While you're waiting, feel free to snack on some cute military character cookies:
http://altjapan.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/02/war_is_swell.html
Posted by: Matt | July 24, 2006 at 06:30 PM